7.5

Blizzard Entertainment released the fourth expansion for their massively popular MMORPG World of Warcraft on September 25, 2012. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria picks up after the events of the previous expansion, Cataclysm Mists of Pandaria introduces a new continent, new questing zones, and raises the maximum player level to 90.

Mists of Pandaria introduces a new race and class for players to choose. The Pandaren race are giant pandas, and are faction-neutral in the beginning. Players can choose whether their Pandaren will be Horde or Alliance after a series of quests. The Monk class uses Energy like Rogues in DPS or tank spec, and Mana in healing spec. Monks also use a new resource called "Chi" which is used in advanced attack moves.

A unique aspect of this expansion pack is the vanity pet battle system. Players are able to battle their vanity pets against other player's vanity pets, or vanity pets that are found in the wild. Vanity pets can be trained to level 25, and players are able to capture vanity pets that are defeated in battle.

Mists of Pandaria utilizes a new questing system on the continent of Pandaria. Every zone in Pandaria has its own set of questing achievements, which players complete when they progress through the various quest chains. Every quest chain ends with an upgraded green item, and the final quest reward for the zone is usually a blue item. This new way of questing allows players to gain a better grasp of the progressive nature of the Mists of Pandaria story line.

Players will find a dramatic change to the talent point system. Blizzard removed talent points and spell ranks in favor of a single talent tree for each class. Players can choose a new talent every 15 levels, and they will find that many of the talents that used to be in the talent tree are now automatically in their Spellbooks.

A new series of instances, called Scenarios, are introduced in Mists of Pandaria. Scenarios are unique in that they do not require a tank or healing class for the group to be successful. Scenarios are available when players reach level 90. Scenarios are goal-based, and are designed to be completed quickly, usually within fifteen minutes.

Mists of Panderia also sees changes to Dungeons and Raids. There is now a Challenge Mode option for five-player Dungeons. In Challenge Mode, players' gear is normalized, and the players attempt to speed clear the Dungeon in a specified amount of time. Rewards in Challenge Mode may include mounts, pets, or titles.

World of Warcraft Mists of Panderia provides exciting content for both beginning and established players. Players who enjoyed group questing may be disappointed at the expansions reliance on single-player quest chains and world phasing. Players will enjoy the changes that further evolves the game and keeps content feeling fresh after eight years.

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